Gabriela

May 3, 2017 • Diagnosed in 1989 • Current Age: 29

Hi everyone! I’m Gabi, I’m 29 years old (soon to be 30) and i’m from Córdoba, Argentina. I recently married my husband and I also have a younger brother that has T1D too. I was diagnosed at the age of 2.

What is the weirdest question you’ve been asked about your diabetes, and how did you respond?
I honestly cant remember the weirdest question. I’m sure there must have been a lot of funny/weird/awkward questions.

Has anyone told you that you couldn’t do something due to your diabetes, and you proved them wrong?
All the time. People always ask me if I can eat sweet things. Most of the time they assume I cant. At birthday parties (when handing birthday cake to guests) I never had my slice because they thought it would kill me.

How do you inspire others?
I try to inspire people by educating them. There’s a lot of misinformation about diabetes.

Tell us a story about how diabetes has affected you.
Well, my parents took care of me my entire childhood of course (blood sugar tests, injections, etc) but when I was a teenager I didn’t really pay attention to carb counting and stuff. I used to take my regular dose of insulin every day at the same time and then eat whatever I wanted without doing the insulin corrections…so a few months later I had to be admitted to the hospital because I had diabetic ketoacidosis. Ever since then (2008) I strictly do my carb counting and so far all my hba1c tests has been great.

How has diabetes contributed to forming you into the person you are today? Mentally, physically, or emotionally?
Well since I was a baby (2 yrs old) when diagnosed, I cant say that I had a life before diabetes. It was always there to me, so it’s not like I “suffered” or something. Nothing changed to me, all my life has always been like this. It is true that I had to take special care regarding food since I was little, so I can say that it built my strength and my power of decision making.